Rezvani Beast Production Launches As America's Next Supercar

It’s easy to scoff at the many unheard-of automakers that claim to be creating the latest, greatest supercar. But when California-based Ferris Rezvani made his claim in 2014 things seemed more genuine. For one, there was no mention of a 2,000 horsepower form of propulsion; a mere 500 horsepower was to be top of the range. And the price tag wasn’t set deep into the seven-figure range; a more attainable six figure sticker — starting with a “one,” no less — was to be the number.

Proving our hunch, Rezvani Motors has now revealed the finished production model, on sale right now — in fact, a couple of Beasts have already been sold and are currently on their way to their new garages. Meet America’s newest supercar.

We’d seen renderings of what the car might look like and what’s glorious here is, in the flesh, it appears to look even better. It’s still based on the lightweight, track-focused Ariel Atom, but with a proper windshield, wilder angles and some rather useful fenders. Ferris Rezvani envisaged taking the Atom’s diminutive chassis and morphing into a more pleasant place to spend time outside of a racetrack, and these pleasantries (like Apple CarPlay) only cost 200 lbs. in additional mass — meaning with a curb weight of 1,650 lbs., it should still feel mighty agile, although looking at the carbon seats in the video below, I’m not sure how comfortable it will truly be.

Under the hood sits an upgraded version of the Atom’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder, featuring both a supercharger and turbocharger, good for 500 horsepower and a 0-60 mph sprint of 2.7 seconds. That's roughly on par with an $845,000 Porsche 918 Spyder. Best of all, is this performance is accessible through a six-speed manual gearbox (or an optional automatic, for the silly). Top speed is 165 mph.

It was rumored that a lower horsepower, cheaper version of the rear-wheel-drive Beast would also be available, but that is now off the table. That means you won’t be able to buy a Beast for the proposed starting price of $120,000, rather you’ll need $165,000 to buy this more powerful version.

Despite this, $165,000 is good value when compared to a Porsche 911 Turbo or McLaren 570S — although it is more costly that a Corvette (but you can be positive your neighbor won’t own one). On paper it has all the performance it needs and in the looks department it stands out like a car worth ten times as much. What it lacks is the usability of these other cars, but that’s not what the Beast is about: “We wanted to get back to the basics,” Ferris Rezvani told Yahoo Autos last year. “We wanted to get back to a raw feel, a car with real tactile feedback, with a lightweight chassis.”

In essence they wanted to do it differently, and most importantly in a way that was realistic. In doing so, we’re now able to welcome the Rezvani Beast to actual roads, something we rarely get to do when talking about new custom supercar-makers. In the coming months, we hope to get behind the wheel of one too — proving its legitimacy on the curves as well as in the metal.